ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Saturday's men's basketball did not start or go well for Missouri S&T's men's basketball team, as the Miners fell behind by double figures within the first four minutes of play and spent most of the day in a big deficit as they dropped a 78-42 Great Lakes Valley Conference decision to Maryville at Moloney Arena.
The Miners (15-11, 9-9 GLVC) allowed the first 14 points of the contest Saturday as they didn't get on the scoreboard until the 12:51 mark of the half on a lay-up by
Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette). S&T missed its first five shots of the contest and committed seven of its 17 first half turnovers before getting its first basket of the afternoon.
S&T did trim the margin down to eight in the latter stages of the first half on a put-back by
Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), but the Saints (16-11, 9-10 GLVC) got back-to-back three-pointers from Jaelen Smith to go back up by 14 and outscored the Miners 14-2 to finish the first half with a 41-21 advantage.
The Miners made an early run at the Saints in the second half, outscoring Maryville 9-2 to open the half and got the margin down to 13 after
Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) scored on an drive to the basket. But after getting to within 13, the Saints – who made 17 three-point baskets in the contest – got back-to-back threes from Harrison Vickers and another from Smith over a span of two minutes to get the back to 20 again.
Maryville followed that by getting two more threes from Ben Palacios and one more from Smith to break the game wide open by the midway point of the second half.
The Miners, who were held to their lowest point total of the season, shot just 34.6 percent from the field and had only two players in double figures in
Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) with 12 points and Okeke with 11.
Maryville got 25 points from Palacios and 15 apiece from Smith and Vickers – all on three-point baskets – as it shot 47.5 percent from the field. That trio combined to hit 16 of the Saints' 17 three-pointers in the game.
Missouri S&T will play its final two regular season contests at Gibson Arena, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. game against Lewis.
